History Fridge / Torchwood

* A minor case of brilliance, but for anyone wondering why the entire Torchwood team is bisexual, remember -- they were all recruited by [[AnythingThatMoves Captain Jack Harkness]]. It's hardly surprising that he'd add 'bisexual' to his list of criteria for a good team member.

* Big Finish's ''The Death of Captain Jack'' establishes that, even if he loses his immortality, Jack will remain a fixed point in time, as well as reinforcing what we know from ''The Wedding of River Song'' ([[spoiler:That preventing a fixed point will destroy the universe.]]). Though that happened in an alternate timeline, Jack came perilously close to being killed in ''Miracle Day'', most notably in ''Rendition''.

** However, there is a crucial difference. While the Doctor is always making stuff up as (s)he goes along, one of his/her greatest weapons is knowledge of the enemy--their capabilities, how they act, how they think, etc. Most likely the Doctor wouldn't have brought a mortal human along with them into a confrontation with an enemy of unknown abilities. Usually, the Doctor leaves the companions behind when bargaining with the monster of the week. Furthermore, the Doctor would've thought out an escape plan as soon as (s)he walked in--take, for example, ''Forest of the Dead'', where he stays right by the trapdoor while interrogating the Vastra Nerada. Jack's biggest mistake wasn't going in to threaten the 456; it was bringing Ianto with him, and the latter's death shook him deeply.

* Owen's [[spoiler: resurrection instead of a 2 minute]] consciousness... Jack, [[spoiler: [[CameBackWrong the man who can not die]]]], is the one who used the glove. @[=The Caffeine Chill=]

* Lots of people hate "Countrycide". Me, I didn't, but only because I realized it was making a not so subtle point: ''At times, [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters human bastardry]] is far more freaky and twisted than any alien presence could be.'' True, it is disappointing there was no alien presence at all, but when Jack just wanted to kill them all (correctly, knowing they were sick sociopaths far more twisted than an alien threat) and Gwen (naively, in a case of WrongGenreSavvy, thinking they just had a BlueAndOrangeMorality she wanted to understand) tried to figure them out, I realized RTD was basically foreshadowing the true horror we humans can be capable of in ''[[Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth Children of Earth]]'' and ''[[Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay Miracle Day]]''. - Rpgingmaster

* In ''Adam'', [[spoiler: Ianto]] is the first one to take an amnesia pill. Well, it's because he got the worst memories, so he'd want to forget the most!
* From the flashback in "Fragments," we find out that Ianto only started wearing suits after trying to get a job in Torchwood several times and getting summarily rejected by Jack. Ianto probably interpreted Jack's rejection to be in part due to his youth and wears suits around the workplace to be treated like an adult, much like how a lot of interns or entry-level employees dress formally to be taken more seriously!
* Gwen's speech from "Children Of Earth" theorizing the Doctor hasn't shown up to help because he's ashamed of the [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humans' actions]]. Letting millions of children be used as drugs seems rather out of character for the Doctor, no matter how mad he may have been...until you realize that Gwen doesn't really ''know'' the Doctor, aside from "the man who occasionally shows up to save the world", so it makes sense that she might think that (even though Doctor Who fans who watched him years would disagree).
* A minor case of brilliance, but for anyone wondering why the entire Torchwood team is bisexual, remember -- they were all recruited by [[AnythingThatMoves Captain Jack Harkness]]. It's hardly surprising that he'd add 'bisexual' to his list of criteria for a good team member.
** Of course, it's mentioned that people from the 51st Century have been genetically altered to produce pheromones that allow them to smell good to other people, as well as appear more attractive. The fact that most of them work in close proximity to a walking aphrodisiac might have something to do with how everyone's sexuality becomes a lot more flexible whenever Jack's around.
* Rearrange the letters in "Torchwood" and you get...[[spoiler: Series/DoctorWho]].
** Fun Fact: "Torchwood" was the working title of preproduction for the Doctor Who revival until it was announced.

* Not having Martha appear in ''Children of Earth''--the Doylist explanation is that the actress was busy, but in-universe it's a perfect explanation for SupermanStaysOutOfGotham, since she (but not Jack) has the Doctor's phone number.

[[AC:FridgeBrilliance]]

[[AC:FridgeHorror]]

** However, there is a crucial difference. While the Doctor is always making stuff up as (s)he goes along, one of his/her greatest weapons is knowledge of the enemy--their capabilities, how they act, how they think, etc. Most likely the Doctor wouldn't have brought a mortal human along with them into a confrontation with an enemy of unknown abilities. Furthermore, (s)he would've thought out an escape plan as soon as he walked in--take, for example, ''Forest of the Dead'', where he stays right by the trapdoor while interrogating the Vastra Nerada. Jack's biggest mistake was bringing Ianto with him, and the latter's death shook him deeply.

** Confirmed. The Master sent them on a wild goosechase to the Himalayas where they probably either died in a blizzard or were killed there. [[PapaWolf Jack goes nuts upon hearing about it]].

** However, there is a crucial difference. While the Doctor is always making stuff up as (s)he goes along, one of his/her greatest weapons is knowledge of the enemy--their capabilities, how they act, how they think, etc. Most likely the Doctor wouldn't have brought a mortal human along with them into a confrontation with an enemy of unknown abilities. Furthermore, (s)he would've thought out an escape plan as soon as he walked in--look at ''Evolution of the Daleks'' where he uses the Dalek's radio against them, ''Forest of the Dead'' where he stays right by the trapdoor, etc, etc). Jack's biggest mistake was bringing Ianto with him, and the latter's death shook him deeply.

** Actually, Jack's plan would have worked...if he were on ''Series/DoctorWho''. He has seen the Doctor bullshit his way through enough invasions to believe it'd work, and because Jack idolizes and tends to pattern himself off of the Doctor, he'd want to take a page out of his book. Hell, even the philosophy he tried quoting at the 456 was a reminder of the Doctor's influence on the situation via his influence on Jack. Had this been a Who episode, that would have been the "[[HumansAreSpecial humans are brilliant and will not be bullied]]" heroic moment that wrapped up the plot. Unfortunately, this is Torchwood, home of DarkerAndEdgier, and Jack's WrongGenreSavvy cost him dearly.

** Plausible, however there were more casualties than the original Jack Harkness. But then again it would be rare for an event such as original Jack's death to be a fixed point in time so the cause of death could be the afformentioned hate crime.

** And [[spoiler:Suzie's and Gwen's]] for a while. Wait...

* In "Exit Wounds," John Hart ties Jack by the arms to the ceiling while Jack is dead. When Jack wakes up, he spends a few seconds screaming and struggling. It didn't hit me until after I finished the episode that, just for those moments, he thought he was back on [[Series/DoctorWho The Valiant.]] - {{Tropers/Maxwell_Edison}}

* Abortion or even the morning after pill, is no longer an option and if sperm meets egg you have a very high chance of having a baby with horrifying birth defects. And Jack's conversation with his one night stand reveals that most people think their new immortality means they don't get sick or injured and so they are taking massive risks.

*** Given the nature of Jack's condition, we can assume that each time he revived he died of asphyxiation shortly thereafter, perhaps taking 5 minutes. The time taken for Jack to revive seems to depend on the injury but a simple thing like asphyxiation might take 5 minutes or so to recover from. So every 10 minutes for 1900 years he suffered a dark, cold, horrifying, conscious choking smothering death. About 100 million deaths! At least when they had him on ice we was asleep.

*** WordOfGod says that the Master attempted to kill the team by causing an avalanche, but that they survived and managed to crawl back to basecamp. What happened after they got back to Cardiff, though, is [[ThePurge another matter]]....

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode ''The End of Time'', the Master uses the Immortality Gate to change every person on Earth into his genetic clone, including those who are dead and buried. There's already Fridge Horror there in that we aren't told whether the dead went back to ''being'' dead once the effect was [[ResetButton undone]]; it gets worse when you remember that [[spoiler: Tosh and Ianto were buried on Earth.]]

* Owen's [[spoiler: resurrection instead of a 2 minute]] consciousness... Jack, [[spoiler: [[CameBackWrong the man who can not die,]] ]] is the one who used the glove. Tropers/TheCaffeineChill
* While watching ''Torchwood'', I always wondered why the hell in the first series, Torchwood was all hush-hush, yet in the second series, almost everyone in Cardiff knows about (and seems to despise) Torchwood. It wasn't until rewatching Utopia that I realized why: while Jack was gone, Gwen was in charge. Gwen is also the newbie who has no idea how to do stuff. It is perfectly plausible that she somehow managed to f*ck something up so badly that the general populace knows about the existence of Torchwood. @Troper/{{Margo196}}
** Torchwood was barely hush-hush in season one, though. It's a little hard to keep secrets when they have a big van that displays "Torchwood" in huge letters and whenever Jack entered a crime scene, he loudly announces Torchwood's presence. It would be inaccurate and baffling to blame Gwen and Gwen alone when the whole team lacked subtlety. - EMY3K

* Jack's name in the future is [[spoiler: The Face of Boe]]. It seems random until you realize that he grew up on [[spoiler: The Boeshane Peninsula.]]
** this is not fridge brilliance, it is immediately explained to the viewer and gives no time for us to wonder.. Jack tells the Doctor and Martha the nickname and where he got it all at once. It is just good writing, and should probably be under the "awesome" tab.

** Not really Fridge Brilliance- this is immediately explained.. no time to walk to the fridge... It's just good writing.

* At the end of the Miracle Day season, [[spoiler: Rex is made immortal like Jack. Does that mean there will be a black counterpart to the Face of Boe?]]

* What happened to the Torchwood team in the [[Series/DoctorWho Year That Never Was]]? Chances are they were all murdered for the Master's amusement or just for trying to raise rebellion against him. No wonder Jack becomes much mellower and more protective of them in Season 2. Also worth noting is that he takes his relationship with Ianto much more seriously, even asking him out soon after he came back!
** Confirmed. The Master sent them on a wild goosechase to the Himalayas where they probably either died in a blizzard or were killed there. Jack goes nuts upon hearing it.

* [[RedShirt Red is Ianto,Owen and Tosh's color.]]-Lillium

** On the other hand, that episode seems to imply their ''might'' be something after all, since he's shown ascending upwards and rapidly zooming away from Earth. If there was truly nothing, wouldn't he have simply blinked out?

* Thinking logically, Ianto's death in ''Children of Earth'' was entirely predictable. Charging off to threaten an alien in a sealed chamber that is threatening to unleash a bioweapon that is lethal to humans, with only handguns and no kind of gas masks or other protection would seem to carry a 100% probability of unpleasant death. That this was not obvious kind of makes Jack look like a GeneralFailure from a tactical standpoint. Then again, not [[WouldHurtAChild not exactly the best grandfather either]].
** Consider also that Torchwood's ''entire base'' had just been destroyed. Without a massive computer database and a hub full of exotic alien technology to fall back on, they were out of their element -- especially Jack, who is still very much a "shoot first, ask questions later" kind of guy.
** Actually Jack's plan would have worked...if he were on ''Series/DoctorWho''. He's seen the Doctor bullshit his way through enough invasions to believe it'd work and because he idolizes and tends to pattern himself off the Doctor, he'd want to take a page out of his book. Hell, even the philosophy he tried quoting at them was a reminder of the Doctor's influence on situation via his influence on Jack. Had this been a Who episode, that would have been the "humans are brilliant and will not be bullied" heroic moment that wrapped up the plot. Unfortunately, this is Torchwood, home of DarkerAndEdgier and Jack's WrongGenreSavvy cost him dearly.